The Setting Sun
by Love7thheaven
Summary: A real quick song fiction of Marthie! Get's fluffier by the moment, lol. Updated and changed a few things in some of the chapters.
1. It's about time

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters of the show or the song "Let's Stay Together" by Tina Turner, just a fan of both!

**A/N:** _Hi everyone! My mind has a block the size of the Great Wall of China when it comes to writing my other story, so I thought I would give a musical one-shot a try :). Marthie fluff for sure, hehe._

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_Let me say that since_

_Since we've been together_

_Loving you forever _

_Is all I need_

"Ruthie?" a deep, husky voice called.

Brown curls bounced on her shoulders as she turned away from gazing at the shimmering evening colours of the sunset and looked towards the voice that sent shivers up her spine. Her eyes darkened with surprise and shock.

"Martin. What are you doing here?"

_Let me be the one you come running to_

_I'll never be untrue_

"I uh," he hesitated, looking down at his hands nervously before raising hopeful green eyes to her, taking in the quiet beauty of her as she sat at the picnic table smoothing her skirt. "Simon had something important to tell your mom and dad so I thought I would…come and visit."

"Oh…just a visit. Hi," she said simply, turning away to hide her frown and hurt from him.

"Everyone's inside, they'll be glad to see you," she mumbled miserably. She got up from the table and began to walk slowly towards the back gate.

_Let's, let's stay together_

_Loving you whether, whether_

_Times are good or bad, happy or sad_

He swiped a few rocks off the ground and began tossing them lightly, deciding on what to do next. He took a step towards her, wiping his hands on his jeans, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"Actually, there's another reason why I'm here," he said, clearing his throat.

She glanced over her shoulder at him with a pain so deep in her eyes that Martin winced.

_I'm so in love with you_

_Whatever you want to do_

_Is alright with me_

"I'm listening," she said, waiting for him to continue.

He walked slowly towards her, stopping just within touching distance. "Someone wise made me realize that I was missing something – someone important in my life. And I came to see if there was anything that I could do to change that."

Ruthie gulped and turned fully towards him and bit her lip. "And who is that? The important 'someone' that you are missing?"

Martin reached out and grasped one of her palms in his and smiled. "You."

She closed her eyes tightly as he inclined his head towards hers, his hands cupping the back of her head as their lips came together, gentle at first, deepening as a pleasured sigh escaped both of them.

_You make me feel so brand new_

_I want to spend my whole life with you_

They pulled away slowly, their noses touching and their forehead resting against one another's, trying to catch their breaths.

"I was going to ask who the wise person was, but I don't think I care now," Ruthie whispered.

Eyes crinkling, Martin laughed and kissed each corner of her mouth before centering back on her lips.

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_So, there it is. It's a little short and more fluff then anything…but it was a fun fluff to write, lol. _


	2. Simon's Surprise

_A/N: Just made a few necessary changes

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_**Meanwhile…**_

"Oh, it is so good to see you Simon. Even if it's only for a quick visit," gushed Annie as she hugged her son tightly.

"It's good to see you too Mom," he croaked as she pulled him even tighter, not wanting to let go. He looked pleadingly over her shoulder at his father, tapping Annie's back when Eric just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Mom? Mom…I'm having a hard time breathing. Ohhh thanks," he gasped as air rushed back into his lungs.

"Sorry honey, I was just so happy to see you. We weren't expecting you," she said as she let go, a wide smile on her face as she settled onto one of the kitchen chairs.

"That's not to say we aren't happy to see you," Eric reassured him, his shirt rumpled, his tie undone, "It's just that it's the middle of the week and…where's Rose? I thought this was the week that you two were supposed to be meeting with the caterer's, that's why you two declined our dinner invitation. Simon," Eric's eyes narrowed suspiciously, the corner of his mouth tilting upwards, "what's going on?"

Simon's eyes brightened with excitement, a grin plastered from ear to ear. "Actually," he started, looking back and forth between his mom and dad, "that's why I'm here. Rose and I have announcement. Umm, you may want to sit down for this."

Annie and Eric's eyes met and locked, a shared feeling of dread passing between them. Just as Simon was ready to share his news Sam and David came bounding down the grey carpeted back kitchen stairs, arguing noisily over who could shove more oreo's into their mouths at once.

"Hi guys," Simon bent down to the boy's height, clasping his hands together. "You are just in time to hear my great news."

Sam and David looked at each other before answering. "Can we still eat cookies?"

He ruffled Sam's head and laughed, "Of course you can."

"Good, cause we're really hungry, aren't we Sam?"

"Yeah, we're really hungry." Sam echoed as they ran across the kitchen towards the cupboard beside the fridge.

"Not too many boys, we don't want to spoil our appetites do we?" Annie asked as the boys stuffed their faces, pieces of cookie flying all over the place as they shook their heads no.

Simon raised his eyebrows before starting again, "All right, here it goes. Rose and I have decided not to wait till the spring to get married. We're going to skip the big wedding and instead have decided to have something small," he beamed at his parents. "Isn't that great?"

Eric began pulling on his collar and sank down on the chair that Annie had pulled out for him, all colour draining from both their faces.

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked, laughing with disbelief at their reaction. "We're getting married sooner and we wanted just the immediate family there. That's why Rose isn't here; she's gone to tell her parents."

"My baby…" Annie gasped out, her face crumpling as tears gathered in her eyes. She covered her face and laid her head on the table.

"Dad?" he turned to Eric with confusion.

Rising unsteadily from his chair, one hand on the table Eric grimaced and then coughed. "Well Simon, I think your mom…and I for that matter, are just a little in shock. Wow, getting married, sooner."

"Dad?" called David, his words muffled with cookie.

Eric ran a hand over his face before turning his attention to the twins who were now standing by the back door, looking out at Ruthie and Martin in the back yard. "Yes?"

"Why is Martin biting Ruthie's lips?" he asked pointing out at them.

"What?" he asked as he stumbled towards the door and gazed out at his daughter and her best friend kissing for all they were worth, Martin nibbling on Ruthie's bottom lip.

Annie shoved back her chair and poked her head beside Eric's shoulder. "I didn't even know he was here," she said dazedly.

Looking up towards the ceiling and cupping his hands together Eric mumbled, "Please lord give me strength. Could it have been too much to ask to have only one surprise per day? Just one?"


	3. To elope or not to elope?

_A/N: a few small revisions on here too_

_**

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Where ever Rose is…**_

Surrounded by her parents and their current spouses in a chic French restaurant, Rose sat back in her chair and serenely watched their looks of astonishment and disbelief.

"Darling be sensible. Isn't it enough that the two of you are getting married so young?" her mother, Grace, asked, flashing a diamond studded watch in the afternoon light. "What do you really know about this boy anyway? From what you've told me about him, he sounds terribly…common."

Rose gritted her teeth and pasted on a fake smile, "Mother, Simon and I love each other very much and I am being sensible. Don't be such a snob. Simon is not common; he's sweet and kind and oddly enough puts up with me. Need I remind you about Dave, the 23 year-old lifeguard that you almost married 2 years ago?"

"That was different," she sniffed haughtily, patting her perfectly placed hair, "he was well versed in Fung Shui and was like a tiger in…"

Rose's father cleared his throat and glared back at his ex-wife when she narrowed her violet eyes and ground her expensive heels into his foot under the table.

"I think what your mother is trying to say is that you and Simon should take a little more time and really get to know one another. Marriage isn't always easy, if anyone knows that your mother and I do. It takes work, time and effort; you just can't jump into it blindly and expect everything to be perfect. We're only saying this because we love you and want you to be happy," he added with a small smile, patting his daughter's hand affectionately.

"Pfftt…" an unladylike snort turned their attention to Grace, "Oh come on Jonathan, tell her the truth. We can't let our friends think that we cannot afford a proper wedding for our daughter; we'll be social piranhas. Well, at least Joseph and I will. It's not like you and your wife," she gestured towards at Jonathan's wife Lonnie, "Tonnie, never had any real class to begin with."

"Johnny," his newest wife Lonnie warned, holding him in his seat. "And my name is Lonnie."

Grace laughed shrilly and pecked her new husband on chin as he leaned towards her. "Tonnie, Lonnie, what's the difference."

"Look, I've just had about enough out of…"

Rose's cell phone rang, a feeling of relief rushing through her when she recognized Simon's number.

"Simon?"

"Rose? What's wrong?" he asked with concern.

"I think we should get married tonight."

"Tonight? Why tonight? Rose what's going on?"

She sighed before answering, "Nothing that a few psychiatrists and alcohol can't fix. Please Simon; say we can be married tonight," she coaxed. "I love you so much and I can't wait to be at your side as your wife, please say you'll do this for me?"

"Uh, I guess so," he hesitated at first but rushed to continue when he heard a sob in her voice, "I love you too Rose, and I'd do anything to make you happy. Tonight you'll be my wife."

_**The Camden's kitchen…**_

"Well, are you just going to let them continue on like that?" Annie questioned Eric as they continued to look through the back door's window in shocked fascination.

"I just can't go bursting in on them like that. Ruthie will think that we don't trust her…we do trust her don't we?" he asked quickly as Annie tilted her head, her eyes widening to emphasis her point. "I guess we do. I'll, umm…I'll go right out there and take care of that…I mean them."

She smiled and patted him on the back, "Good, let me know how it turns out. Come along boys, we have a bedroom that needs picking up." She held her hands out to the twins and ignored the sulk on Eric's face.

Eric breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Lucy and Kevin coming through the gate. "Saved by Lucy."

_**Outside 5 minutes before…**_

"Ruthie?" Martin whispered, smiling as he watched the look of pure heaven on Ruthie's face, her eyelids tightly closed.

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't we do this sooner?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him with confusion. "Do what sooner?"

Wrapping his arm around her back, he pulled her into the heated curve of his body and began lowering his head again. "This. You and me, together, kissing. Its lots of fun," he chuckled, "and to think we could have been doing this all along," he whispered huskily, dipping lower till they were half bent over the picnic table.

"Wow, this isn't exactly something you see in your parent's back yard every day," came Lucy's stunned voice from the open back gate, Kevin grinning and nodding his head with male glee.

"Yeah, a free show. Ouch," he grimaced as Lucy's arm shot out, smacking his stomach with a loud thud.

Martin pulled his arms away from Ruthie as if burnt.

"Hey," Ruthie screeched as she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Oh, sorry Ruthie." Laughing nervously, Martin reached his hands out to her to help her up but she slapped them away and got to her feet, wiping leaves off her jeans and sweater.


	4. It's his decision

_Hi everyone! I just re-read my original chapter four of this story and I didn't like it, hehe, so I re-wrote some of it this morning. Hope its muchhhh much better :)

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Clearing her throat, Lucy handed Savannah over to Kevin and moved to her sister's side. Giving both Kevin and Martin a looked that clearly said she wanted time alone with Ruthie, Martin tried planting a quick kiss on Ruthie's lips, Lucy stomping her foot impatiently, rising her eyebrows. Both men shrugged and walked towards the house.

Holding up her hand to stall her sister Ruthie said in a determined voice, "I know what you're going to say and it's not like you and Mary never kissed a boy before."

Lucy pursed her lips, "That's true, but I don't remember ever making out with one in my parent's back yard…okay at least not in broad day light," she confessed at the look of disbelief Ruthie gave her. "Look, Ruthie, you're my sister and I love you. This is a new thing for you and Martin and I just want you take things slow, don't rush into anything that you may later regret."

Smiling at her sister's concern, Ruthie hugged Lucy to her side.

"Though I got to say, when he dropped you on your butt, that was pretty funny," Lucy giggled.

Rubbing her bottom and shin, Ruthie groaned with a humorous pained look on her face. "Maybe for you, but my side doesn't think so. So that's what they mean when they say love hurts."

A fresh burst of laughter came from Lucy as she doubled over holding her stomach, Ruthie joining her moments later as both their eyes began tearing up. The back door flew open and a beaming and excited Simon rushed out towards them with his arms opened wide. He gathered both of his sisters in his arms and squished them together, Ruthie and Lucy's faces pasted to his as he rocked them happily.

"I'm so happy. I can't tell you how happy I am right now," his words tumbled out, the sound Annie's tiny sob the only sound coming from the house behind them.

"Why? What's going on?" Lucy croaked out flailing her hands in her brother's bear hug.

"Si—mon…" Ruthie pushed against her brother's chest and rubbed her cheek when he finally let them go.

Shoving his hands in his pocket, he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, prolonging the suspense and torturing his sisters.

"Rose and I are planning on eloping tonight…and she wants you two there, along with Sandy, to be her bridesmaids. Can you believe it? Isn't this incredible? Well…" he asked, cocking his eyebrows, "aren't you excited for me?"

Ruthie and Lucy glanced at each other and then back at Simon's bright smile and nodded numbly.

"Congratulations Simon," Lucy said with phony enthusiasm and hugged him tightly.

He turned to Ruthie expectantly. She patted his arm and nodded her head, grinning dryly, "Good for you. I hope you both," she choked on her words, "have a very happy life together."

"Thanks, I think."

Ruthie shrugged. "Where are you two planning on getting married anyways? And what about dad? I thought you wanted him to marry the two of you."

"I did…I mean I do, its just that we wanted a quick service and we…well I, wanted dad by our side when we take our vows. There's a 24 hour chapel about an hour from here that Rose told me about."

"Tell me everything," Lucy interrupted and led him towards the house, winding her arm through his.

Ruthie, who was a few feet ahead of them, saw her mother poke her head out the door, her face shiny with tears. When her eyes rested on Simon she sobbed again, blowing her already red nose noisily with the handful of Kleenex, shaking her head before heading back inside. Shocked faces stared back at them when they entered the kitchen.

"Well, I guess we have lots of plans to make before we leave tonight. Look at mom," Simon gushed happily, "she's so happy for us she's crying."

"I bet," Ruthie mumbled rolling her eyes, taking a seat beside Martin at the kitchen table. He smiled down at her and kissed her hair as he rested an arm on the back of her chair.

"This is turning out to be quite an interesting night," he whispered, his breath fanning her hair and tickling her ear.

"You have no idea. After tonight Rosezilla is going to be my sister-in-law," she joked as Martin laughed into the crook of her neck, muffling the sound.

"I love you guys," Simon first hugged his mom and dad and then began moving his way around the kitchen, no one safe from being squeezed. "I have to go call Matt and see if he and Sarah can make it." He turned towards everyone with a huge smile on his face and then clapped his hands together before grabbing the cordless phone and heading towards the living room.

"What are we going to do?" Annie sniffled, sinking down onto a chair beside Lucy.

Eric closed the doors leading to the hallway and faced his family with a grim look. "There's really nothing we can do. Ultimately this is Simon's decision and he needs us to support him because the last thing we need is for him to pull away from us because of her. Besides," he said, resting his chin on his hand as he leaned against the kitchen's island, "we've already tried talking him out of it before and we've failed."

"If anything, I think it's pushed them closer together," Kevin moped, but then tilted his head, his eyes brightening, "What if…bear with me here...we lock him up in the garage apartment with no phone and then tell Rose he went off and joined the circus or something?"

Shaking her head Lucy gazed him lovingly and patted his hand with patience, "Nice try honey. That has got to be the oldest story in the book and besides, knowing Rose, she'd probably track down each circus troop to find him."

"Why don't we want Rose and Simon to get married?" Sam asked everyone, his big blue eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yeah, why?" David echoed his brother.

Annie bent close to the boys and lowered her voice to almost a whisper, "Because Rose is not a very nice person sometimes." She jumped and blushed guiltily, smiling at Simon when he came bounding through the double doors.

"It's all settled, Matt and Sarah are flying in and they'll be here in a couple of hours. Wow, I can't believe this, before the night is over Rose is going to be Mrs. Simon Camden."

"Yay," they all chimed in dully, dreading what the rest of the night had in store for them.

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_How'd you all like it? Is there anything that needs to be changed or added? R&R pretty please:)_


	5. What now?

_**A/N:** There's a lot going on in this chapter, I hesitated adding it because of that. So it may be confusing a bit.

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_**The little French café…**_

"We are not going to be there tonight when you ruin your life, Rose. Or more better, ours," Rose's mother, Grace, patted her nose with powder. Snapping her compact shut she looked confusedly up at Rose as she and her father scraped their away from the café's table.

"And where are you going?" her already pointy nose tilted even higher.

"To support our daughter, which is something you wouldn't know anything about. Come along Lonnie, Rose, we have a chapel to book and a long drive ahead of us." Jonathan fitted his hand in the crook of his new wife, Lonnie's, elbow to help her up.

"It's so nice to see where your priorities lay mother. I'm doing this whether you're there or not."

Grace pouted prettily. "Rose dear, I only want what's best for you. I don't want you to make the same terrible mistake I made when I married your father."

"Mother!"

Everyone gasped at her tactlessness. John slammed Lonnie's chair into the uneven table so hard that it tipped and crashed into Grace's stomach. She grimaced in pain and narrowed her eyes threateningly at her ex-husband. Jonathan raised an eyebrow and gave her a mock salute and led his new wife away from the table towards their car parked by the curb.

"I feel sorry for you mother. It must be lonely with only your mirror and ego to keep you company." Rose tucked her purse beneath her arm, tossed her hair and stomped away in clicking heels.

_**Sandy's apartment…**_

"Of course I'll be one of your bridesmaid's," Sandy said sadly, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from crying, gripping the receiver so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, "I would be honoured Rose. It was very nice of you to think of me."

"Good I'm glad. Now the only question is do you have anything suitable to wear to our wedding? I don't want anything to clash, even if it is just a quick wedding. I want there to be lots of class."

Sandy shook her head and thought _same old Rose_. "I'm sure I'll be able to find something that won't clash. I wouldn't want to embarrass you."

"Aww, that is so thoughtful," Rose gushed. "Oh and make sure that you wear your hair down. I should be the only one with her hair up, it is my wedding," she giggled girlishly.

Touching a trembling hand to her hair, Sandy nodded to herself and said quietly, "Sure, whatever is best for you. I suppose I should let you go now, you did say you didn't have much time to talk."

"Of course you're right. I have to admit though, I don't have to do much to add to what is already perfection," she hung up without saying goodbye, leaving Sandy holding the phone to her ear with a dial tone.

Dropping the phone onto its cradle, Sandy's shaky legs almost gave out on her as she sank onto the edge of her couch. A tear silently trailed down her cheek and dropped onto her folded hands.

"Simon, if it were only me that you were marrying tonight. I love you so much it hurts. Hurts so much," she choked on a sob, dropping her head into heads and wept till her shoulders shook with her effort to hold it back.

"No," she said, wiping her tears with the heels of her hands and pushing herself off the couch. "I'm better then this, I'll go to support Simon. It's the least I can do."

_**The Camden's home…**_

Mac came strolling up the Camden's drive way in a charcoal grey and red striped suit as everyone was buzzing around, packing themselves into three separate vehicles.

"Hey buddy, I heard you were in town," he grinned happily as Martin packed his car's trunk.

Martin whirled around and grinned back, striding over to his friends side, throwing his arm about him to hug him tightly. "Mac. Man its great to see you. How'd you know I was in town though, only a few people knew." He asked, his eyebrows rising in question.

"Hey, I'm glad you could make it," Simon slapped Mac's shoulder good naturedly. "I called Mac and invited him to the wedding. Thought because he's such a good friend of yours and Ruthie's that he'd like to come."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Who is he marrying again?" he whispered to Martin as Simon walked away to talk to his dad.

Martin shook his head and laughed at his best friend. "Rose. You remember, the one that you said looked like Cruella DeVille with a nicer hairdo?"

Mac's forehead wrinkled as he fought to remember. "Oh yeah, with a laugh to match. Now I remember. Ruthie!" he called as she almost walked past him, Martin patted his friend's shoulder and went back to packing.

"Mac? Where'd you come from?" the ruffled layers of her indigo blue dress swirled around her legs when Mac scooped her up, squeezing her tightly.

"Put me down please."

He lowered is head and kissed her cheek, gazing at her tenderly as he let her body slide down his. She stepped away with a bright blush on her cheeks and smoothed her dress self consciously, gazing at him wearily. He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice so that only she could hear.

"It's good to see you again. I've missed being around you, I mean hanging out of course," he coughed, covering his mouth to hide his embarrassment.

"Mac, I…"

"Your hair is beautiful when it's curly," he grasped an unruly curly in one hand and let it slide through his fingertips.

"What's he doing?" Simon asked, nudging Martin with his shoulder.

Martin looked back and slammed the trunk loudly enough for Mac to jump away from Ruthie. A dark, jealous emotion darkened his green eyes almost to emerald as he gazed at his friend clearly flirting with his new girlfriend. Ruthie turned to him with a sigh of relief as he laid a possessive arm around her waist, dropping a kiss on her ear while still glaring menacingly at Mac. Reading the emotions in his friend's eyes, Mac held his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry man, I didn't know that you two were seeing each other. The last I knew, you weren't even speaking."

"Well, that's changed, Ruthie's mine now." He flashed his friend a predatory look. "Ouch, why are you elbowing me for?" he asked Ruthie as he pulled his arm back and rubbed his side.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "For one thing, until today, we weren't together so how was he supposed to know and for acting like a caveman guarding his meat." She held up her hand and walked off, slamming the door of Eric and Annie's van.

Mac whistled and laughed, "Trouble in paradise."

"Shut up," Martin grumbled, "Want a ride? Good, get in."

Glancing back and forth between the van where Ruthie pretended not to be looking at Martin who was sitting in his car with a scowl on his face and who also was pretending not too look back at her, a wicked gleam entered Mac's eyes.

"All right everybody, are we ready to go?" Eric asked, doing a head count to make sure they had everyone.

He sighed in acceptance at what was about to happen and got into his van as everyone began to pull out of the drive way, and on towards Simon and Rose's future.

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_It may not be the best of chapters, but bear with me, I hope to make the next one better :)_


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